Between good and evil
by Begga
Summary: What happens if Severus Snape is attacked and seriously injured on a deatheater mission from an unexpected side and, unfortunately, a problem about Halloween is looming? SevWhump It's a rather unusual point of view, which I wouldn't write like this anymore today:) I've writen this ff in 2009 and it is finished - but of course I don't upload all chapters at once ;)
1. Chapter 1

It was cold on this full moon night. Even in the big house, which stretched over four floors, it was icy. But the cold didn't bother him anymore. He hardly felt it anymore. Of course he could have started a fire in the fireplace, but that would reveal his presence.

The Muggles in the adjoining houses, which were not nearly as impressive, had been very suspicious since that night 50 years ago, when two people were killed in that very house.

At that time the suspicion had fallen on the gardener - as in pretty much every murder case that could not or would not have been solved unequivocally. But why should you make it more complicated than it actually was? The gardener was the only person who had another key to the house and was never good at talking to his employers. But since no guilt could be proven against him, he was released after a short interrogation and has been living in the small hut behind the house ever since.

If he had now kindled a fire in this house, the gardener would have thought that once again young people had crept into the house to test their courage again. He had to think of something to get rid of the gardener.

He could not kill him. Because then the Muggle Police would observe the house and he would have to find a new place to live. That wouldn't be so bad if Malfoy hadn't let the Aurors catch him on a mission. Because now her house was occupied by them and could no longer be used by her peers.

However, there are other spells. Maybe he will curse the gardener with a jibe with which he talks himself in order to move in, since this property is far too much work for a single, no longer completely healthy man. And as soon as he has left his hut, he will lay some of the useful spells around and on Hogwarts - the famous school of witchcraft and sorcery - around the house.

The spell that makes the property invisible to Muggles and makes them forget their real concerns will be just as much a part of it as the Fidelius for the keeper of the secret. And for that very secret keeper, there is only one question with whom he will talk through his plan that night - and perhaps even carry it out.

He whom he trusts unconditionally, if you can put it that way. Of course he does not trust anyone, not even himself. However, he is the only one he can rely on. Who provides him with a lot of useful information and has never let him down. He - for whom he represents a father figure in his own eyes. Yes, one could even say that he even cares about his protégé.

He had the most intimate relationship with him than with any other person in his life.

Perhaps it was because they were so similar. They had the same family circumstances and also their curriculum vitae was very similar. Only the school years deviated from the biographies. One of them all admired - the other hated. But they had one thing in common during their school days, although they attended school at the age of almost twenty: They were very popular with the teachers and spent a lot of time in the library, where they acquired a lot of knowledge. Both were far ahead of their classmates. In addition to the knowledge recognized by all, both of them, except one, sank unnoticed into the studies of the dark arts which both perfectly mastered.

But his protégé has gone even further, for which he admires him very much. He started to develop and improve his own spells and potions in the seventh year of school.

And one day he was with him. He won the most valuable person for himself and his plans. It was a first victory for him and could therefore put his greatest enemy in a barrier. His greatest enemy - who at the time assumed that his protégé had returned to him - was the only one who still assumed that the boy hated and excluded by everyone would play a very important role in the story between good and evil. A role that will go far beyond what a normal person can achieve.

He was aware of the danger he was exposing his protégé to. And this knowledge hurt him. Knowing that he could lose his best man in any mission was very painful, but the helplessness and knowledge that he could do nothing was worse.

Although his protégé knew that he would endanger his life if he carried out his missions, he did not know what role he would play. The tasks he performed in addition to his "normal" duties were very much dependent on his mental and physical powers.

And you could see that more every day. You couldn't talk to him about it. He saw it as a weakness and hated it when he was the center of attention.

Slowly his thoughts returned to reality. They had to arrive here at any moment. The uncertainty of not knowing who had survived or not survived this important mission slowly became too much for him.

To him - the one who was feared by the whole world and loved, worshipped, almost idolized by only a few.

To him who cruelly frightened and upset the world.

To him who fears nothing, not even death.

He who does not distinguish between good and evil, but between the powerful and those who are too weak and too cowardly to strive for power.

For him the time of waiting became more and more unbearable and the concern for his people almost drove him crazy. Him whom all knew only as an ice-cold, unscrupulous murderer and destroyer.

Tom Vorlost Riddle alias Lord Voldemort.


	2. Chapter 2

Plop. The first Death Eater apparted. And without turning around, he knew which of his followers had just arrived. Avery. And what he heard and felt Voldemort didn't like at all. Avery was out of breath. And even though he was bursting with curiosity and worry, he knew it wouldn't help if he questioned him now. He would have to give him a few seconds to recover.

Slowly, Avery began to tell. "We reached the house a few minutes after we left. They had set up an apparatus boundary so we had to walk a short distance. We were able to do our job the way you told us to, my Lord," Avery reported. As he spoke, Voldemort noted that more and more of his followers were entering the room.

"However, we were then stopped by aurors from the Ministry of Magic. We did not notice their arrival. They lurked for us just behind the border. And there was a fight. We could kill some of them."

"What does it look like on our side? He hardly dared to ask the question. "Two. Pettigrew and Crabbe were slightly injured with some cuts. Macnair was killed in the raid."

"Why didn't you prevent that," Voldemort interrupted the report. Avery bowed and bowed his head. "We had no chance, my Lord. Macnair once again made fun of Snape, who warned us of the danger lurking across the border. He did not find it necessary to follow Snape's instructions and was directly struck by a curse. We had to deal with three times the number of opponents. We tried not to get involved in a fight and apparated directly behind the border. So I can't say exactly who is still following us and who didn't make it."

Voldemort looked around the room. His followers stood in the usual circle, and so he could see who was missing, even though he now saw their faces in a shadowy way. His gaze wandered counter clockwise through the room. On his left was Peter Pettigrew, who was a cowardly, slimy man, barely taller than a 13-year-old boy. Through his devotion to the Dark Lord he could be used for any service, as he would not have been a great loss to his followers and the plans Lord Voldemort had. Next to him stood Bellatrix and Rudolphus Lestrange, Narzissa Malfoy. The place next to her was free. Normally her husband Lucius Malfoy stood there, but he stayed in Azkaban. Crabbe, Goyle, Travers, Augustus Rookwood, Alecto, Fenrir Greyback followed. Mulciber was missing. His gaze wandered further along the row of his followers. Next to Rowle stood Yaxley, Antonin Dolohow and Avery. And between him and Avery there was another place free. This realization shocked him more than the losses of Macnair and Mulciber. The place to his right belonged to the only person he trusted who had so many similarities with him.

After thanking them for the careful execution of the mission and announcing the next meeting for probably next evening, he ended today's meeting and dismissed the Death Eaters from his services.

"Avery. I want to have another word with you." Voldemort wanted to make sure that the others had left the house. "What about Maciber?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, my Lord. He was always behind me," Avery replied. "He called Snape to hurry as the Aurors were getting closer. That was the last I heard from him. I must honestly add that I could not keep an eye on each one of us because we were attacked from three sides, my Lord."

Avery waited anxiously for what was to follow. His master seemed worried. You could see his tension despite the wide cloak he was wearing.

"What about Severus Snape," Voldemort asked quietly. His voice trembled slightly as he asked the question. But Avery didn't seem to notice anything as he tried to remember the people he had seen. "He was a good way behind me when we were surprised by the Aurors. He has, judging by the flashes of curses, caught some of them. Maciber obstructed me the view up when I reached the apparatus border. I don't know what finally happened to him, but he must have been stopped somehow because he wasn't here. Should I search for him?"

"No, we will wait a little longer. Thank you for the information. We will probably see each other tomorrow," Voldemort replied. He watched Avery to make sure he had left Riddle Manor. Then he put on his cloak and left the property as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Carefully, he looked around the meadow that bordered a forest. A light breeze waved the grass at his feet and blew the last leaves from the trees. It had begun to rain. The temperature was now below freezing.

It was a very cold autumn night for October. In a few days, the Halloween party was approaching. A day that was a holiday for many people. For a few it was a day of remembrance, suffering and struggle.

Slowly Voldemort approached the forest. At the border between him and the meadow ran the apparatus line that Avery had been talking about. Careful not to make noises, he walked between the trees.

For a while he walked through the forest, looking at the tracks left by the battle between the Death Eaters and the Aurors. At many trees the bark had broken off, where the curses had missed their real target. Some plants were burned.

Voldemort penetrated further and further into the forest. His magic wand lit the way for him, so that not a single clue about Severus Snape's whereabouts escaped him.

The rain became stronger and stronger and Voldemort's cape moistened more and more. The wind increased and whirled up the leaves lying on the ground. Under normal circumstances he loved this weather, but today a shiver ran down his back, not knowing whether it was the wet cold or the tension.

The deeper he went into the forest, the darker it became. The fine glow of his magic wand fought its way through the increasing rain and darkness and decreased more and more.

Suddenly Voldemort stopped. Had he been wrong, or had he just heard something that was only a few metres beside him? He listened into the darkness and the silence, which was only broken by the falling raindrops.

He decided to leave the path and walk a little into the forest. If he had been wrong, he could still go back and follow the path.

Voldemort pushed some branches of the bushes to the side that lined the wayside and stopped again. He had heard the sound again. Only very quietly, but very close by.

He had left the path a few meters behind when he saw a shadow behind one of the trees. He grabbed his magic wand tighter and walked towards the tree with firm steps.

He could see the shadow of a man a few inches smaller than him. He was wearing a wide coat that made him look more imposing than he was.

The stranger stumbled over the roots and branches on the ground again and again and had to lean against the tree so that he wouldn't fall on the rain-soaked ground.

Voldemort took a step towards the masked figure, whose hood did not reveal any view of his face. Unexpectedly the man stumbled, could no longer intercept himself and fell to the ground at his feet, where he remained motionless.


	4. Chapter 4

Voldemort sat next to the person who was apparently unconscious. He turned her around and shoved the big hood out of her face. It was one of his Death Eaters, he had already recognized that from the cape, but he hadn't reckoned with the knowledge he made when he uncovered the face of the person.

Severus Snape lay lifeless in front of him. The eyes closed and even paler than it was his way anyway. His breath was very shallow and irregular. Voldemort felt for his wrist to look for a pulse. He had to search a long time to find one. He was barely felt.

His clothes, which he was wearing under his coat, were soaked, despite the many layers. Voldemort noticed that his skin, which was normally freezing cold, was glowing with heat. He had been out here much too long.

Voldemort carefully took the unconscious man up and went back the way he had come as quickly as possible, then apparated to Riddle Manor.

Arriving there, he laid his protégé on one of the beds and removed the dripping wet clothes.

Only now did the extent of his injuries become apparent. Several deep cuts on his chest, undoubtedly coming from the Sectumsempra, soaked the bed sheets blood-red.

Of course he knew the counter spell. But he showed no effect. The wounds broke open again as soon as they had closed and continued to bleed with unchanged strength. He must have been forced to put on a potion that prevented them from closing.

With the numerous hematomas strewn over his body, Voldemort immediately realized that he had not only once received the Crutiatus curse.

Voldemort sat down on the edge of the bed and desperately lowered his head. What had he done to deserve it? Of all who had been on the mission, he had done the most damage.

What worried him the most was his helplessness. He did not have the means to help Severus Snape. He could not even go to a pharmacy to get the necessary ingredients or deliver him to St. Mungos. With that he would hand himself over to the aurors of the ministry. Neither could he send one of his followers.

But he couldn't let Severus die from his injuries either. He connected too much with him, even if he didn't know.

Voldemort knew that he had to act quickly. Severus would die within minutes from his injuries and the enormous loss of blood.

He had only one option. And that was risky. He took off his wide cape and wrapped his protégé with some blankets in here. Then he left the property for the second time that evening and apparated.


	5. Chapter 5

After a few seconds he reached his destination. Seconds that seemed like hours to him. Seconds that, in his opinion, went far too slowly. Seconds in which he could have died. Seconds in which he still hadn't woken up. Seconds in which he could not have planned how to get into the building.

The building that was the safest in the whole world. The building that was considered a rescue for many. Only possibly not for that one. The one who risked his life for so many people. The salvation was near and yet so far. If he were alone and under normal circumstances, he could gain access to the building by living and teaching.

But not today. Today he had to think of a strategy to get into the building against which these security measures had been taken.

And time ran out more and more. Time that had never been so precious.

Voldemort stood in front of the building which had always been his home for him - and Severus Snape - and could not enter it.

Hogwarts.

Only behind isolated windows could one see light burning. The students and most of the teachers were in bed at that time.

Suddenly Severus moved in his arms. It obviously caused him trouble to open his eyes. "Master! Where are we," he asked very quietly.

"I found you in a forest, Severus. We'll talk later. Tell me, how did you get into Hogwarts?

Severus tried to stand up. "I can go. I can do it," but his body punished him with lies. He trembled and could hardly stand on his feet.

"You must inform Dumbledore. "No, my master. I am well. I do not need his help!

"Severus, please be reasonable. I don't want to have to force you." Voldemort looked tortured. He watched as Severus took some spells from the gates and revealed himself by touching the nose of the warthog that was worked into the gate.

He turned around again. "Thank you. Then he walked very slowly, as if every step would cause him pain, towards the lock away.

As soon as he had taken a few steps, he staggered and leaned to the ground.

"Severus," Voldemort shouted. "Severus!"

But he didn't move. Voldemort didn't think about what he was doing when he took his wand out of his cape and pointed it at the castle.


	6. Chapter 6

"Expecto Patronum.

A silver ibex broke out of the tip of the magic wand, effortlessly overcame the spells that secured the castle and disappeared towards the castle.

He met his receiver in the entrance hall. Albus Dumbledore was on his way to the lands of his school to see if Severus Snape had ever returned from the mission he was called to by Lord Voldemort.

He received the unknown Patronus. "I'm not here to attack the school. I am alone. Severus was seriously injured, but does not want help. He's at the north gate."

Dumbledore was torn between trust and mistrust.

Did Voldemort only intend to bring Severus home, or was this a trap?

He did not have much time. He had to decide what to do. It certainly did no harm if he went to look. After all, the school was protected with spells that didn't let in any curses from outside.

He opened the heavy hinged doors leading out from the entrance hall to the lands and walked past the greenhouses towards the north gate.

He was not quite comfortable with the matter.

The gate came into his sight and in front of the gate there was a person whose magic wand was lit.

Dumbledore hurried closer. It was indeed Voldemort and a few meters from the fence lay a figure wrapped in a large, wide cloak on the floor.

"What happened," Dumbledore asked the black wizard sharply as he squatted next to the person, turning her around and recognizing Severus Snape inside her. So Voldemort had not lied.

"Tom!

"I don't know. They all came back - well. Almost all of them. They said they were his attacked by aurors. But nobody knew what had happened to him. I found him in a nearby forest. But I cannot help him and so I brought him here. He woke up about five minutes ago. And as he is, he overestimated his strength and did not want to accept his physical limits."

"Thank you Tom, for your help. I absolutely must take him to the infirmary if he is not to die.

Dumbledore lifted his lifeless body and hurried away with quick and long steps towards the castle.

In the castle, however, he did not turn his steps towards the hospital wing, but went towards the dungeon where Severus Snape had his quarters. He would be better off here.

He opened the door and laid his boy on the bed. He called the house-elf Dobby, who informed Madame Pomfrey about the emergency.

As Dumbledore waited for the media witch to arrive, he lit a fire in the fireplace, making it a little more comfortable in the cold and gloomy catacombs and ridding Severus of his wet cape and wet blankets.


	7. Chapter7

Dumbledore laid the blankets and the cape next to the bed on the floor and noticed that his hands were full of blood.

Only now did he see the deep scratches on Severus' chest and abdomen. Quickly he went into the bathroom to get a bowl of lukewarm water and a cloth.

He sat down next to Severus on the bed and began to wash off the blood, but he didn't really succeed, because the unsealed wounds kept bleeding and the water turned dark red in no time at all.

"Who has done this to you? According to what I heard from Tom, it must have been aurors from the ministry. Although I can't imagine that they should have done this," Dumbledore thought. "That must have been at least a black magic curse, and the way he looked, there was at least an unforgivable curse."

Dumbledore mumbled various spells to stop the bleeding, but with the same result that Voldemort achieved. As soon as the wounds were closed, they broke open again.

Dumbledore noticed that his protégé's pulse and breathing continued to slow and his fever persistently rose.

An energetic knock on the door ripped Dumbledore out of his mind.

As fast as he could, he left the bedroom and crossed the adjoining living room. They were beautiful rooms. In the living room there were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, some of which were filled with very old books. On the wall opposite the door, there was a fireplace in the walls in which no fire was burning now.

Near him stood a low table around which three armchairs were grouped.

Dumbledore opened the door for Madame Pomfrey. The media witch, who was not in these rooms for the first time, went directly to the bedroom.

Dumbledore followed her into the room, which was only equipped with a large bed, a wardrobe and a bedside table.

Madame Pomfrey hurried around the bed and took down Severus' towels, which Dumbledore had provisionally used as a bandage.

" Merlin's Beard!," the little witch abducted it. "Who had a good time? Please tell me the whole story, Albus."

"Well, I can't tell you much either, Poppy." Dumbledore began. "As you knew, Severus was called this evening by Lord Voldemort. And since he still hadn't returned after six hours, I decided to take a little walk on the estates. Maybe he was out there somewhere.

As soon as I had reached the entrance hall, an unknown patronus in the form of a Capricorn approached me. Voldemort's voice asked me to come outside to the north gate. He had brought Severus back, but he did not accept his physical limitations and, against all good advice, set off alone to school.

Voldemort told me that all the other Death Eaters, largely unharmed, had returned from the mission, with only a few exceptions killed.

After Severus hadn't returned after an hour, Voldemort decided to search for him and found him in a forest near her place of work. There they must have been surprised and attacked by the ministry's aurors.

Voldemort first brought Severus to Riddle Manor, then saw that he couldn't help him and then brought him here.

At the gates of Hogwarts he briefly regained consciousness and tried to make his way to the castle. But a few meters behind the gate he collapsed again. And Voldemort, who couldn't help him, sends me the patronus.

I don't know any more and I'm afraid we won't know any more for the time being."

While Dumbledore told the story, Madame Pomfrey tried some spells to stop the bleeding.

"Why aren't the spells working," she murmured by the way. "Albus, the injuries are a sectumsempra. A spell that Severus invented himself. I don't understand why the counter spell doesn't work. Although..."

She mumbled another spell and became pale as she interpreted the result.

"Poppy, what's wrong?" Dumbledore inquired. "She ... . They forced Severus, otherwise I can't explain it to myself, to take a potion containing poison from the teeth of the snake Nagini. This would mean that the aurors could no longer be held responsible for these injuries. How can they get to the poison?"

"And you now fear that Voldemort did it himself, or commissioned it?"

"I don't know Albus," the media witch replied. "I only know that we have to do something so that he doesn't lose more blood."

She put two fingers on Severus's aorta. "His pulse is barely felt. He lost a lot of blood. I suggest that we give him a hematopoietic potion every half hour until we have found an antidote or the effect subsides by itself. But that's not all.

To make matters worse, he has caught pneumonia from the time he was out there in the wet and cold. The Cruciatus curse, which you probably suspected, also broke four ribs. The next few days will be very painful for him. We can't give him a pain potion because it's not compatible with the blood potion."

Madame Pomfrey looked anxiously at the boy's very pale face, whom he had known since his first day at school.

At that time he had a very difficult time and often lay with her in the infirmary. And still today - almost twenty years later - she took care of her Severus, who was still called "boy" by her.

"Poppy, please be honest with me," she gathers Dumbledore's voice from her memories. "Will he make it?"

The media witch forced herself to look away from Severus' face and look the school principal in the eye. "I don't know, Albus. He's been through a lot and I don't want to be in his shoes now. He has lost a lot of blood and the other injuries are just as dangerous. At the moment he is closer to death than to life, Albus."


	8. Chapter 8

Madame Pomfrey turned her eyes away from the headmaster of the school and looked again into the pale face of Severus Snapes.

"I can't do much for him at the moment," she said, "I'd love to, but we'll have to wait for the potion to work and the poison to wear off. We have to try to lower the fever."

"I'll do it, Poppy," Dumbledore replied. "I'll get back to you if his condition worsens. Could you please send Minerva down here?"

Madame Pomfrey, who had packed her things together, nodded briefly and then left the room.

Dumbledore sat down on the edge of the bed and washed the sweat off Severus's forehead and face. "Oh Severus, what have you done to deserve this?"

Quietly there knocked on the door through which Minerva McGonagall stepped. "Albus, what happened? Poppy told me that you wanted to see me urgently in Severus' rooms. Oh! Merlins Beard! "

Minerva's gaze had fallen from Dumbledore on Severus.

"I don't know what happened. But I must find out so that we can help Severus. He lost a lot of blood on the wounds of Sectumsempra because the wounds can't be closed because he drank a poison that prevents the wound closure. He also has four rib fractures and pneumonia."

"How did he get here?" "Tom brought him here!"

"TOM," Minerva asked incredulously. "But not Tom?! Tell me that's not true, Albus."

"Yes, Minerva, it is Tom Vorlost Riddle who brought him to Hogwarts. However, he hasn't set foot here. But I need your help.

We can't give Severus a potion of pain against the after-effects of the Crutiatus curse, because it doesn't mix with the haematopoietic potion.

But we must wake him up briefly to find out who did this to him and what exactly he had to suffer. Can you help me?"

"But of course, Albus."

Slightly worried, she watched Dumbledore pull his magic wand and quietly mumbled "Enervarte".


	9. Chapter 9

McGonagall sat on the other side of the bed and looked alternately from Severus to Dumbledore.

The seconds between the spell and the slight twitch of Severus' eyes seemed like minutes to her.

Slowly Severus opened his eyes. Slightly dazed, he tried to recognize the surroundings.

Everything turned. He concentrated on something blue, which seemed close. Gradually the dizziness subsided and he looked into the face of his director. He smiled and his blue eyes glittered.

Severus tried to get up, which caused him indescribable trouble and almost robbed him of consciousness again.

He noticed a hand on his shoulder gently but firmly pushing him back into the pillows.

"No, Severus. I don't like doing it, but I need to ask you a few questions. Is it all right if Minerva is there," Dumbledore asked.

Severus nodded. "You are very badly hurt, and one thing is causing us some healing difficulties. I would like to concentrate on our conversation and so I asked her to be there to check your pulse. I don't want you to try harder than you are already doing illegally. Do you have a problem with that?"

This time Severus shook his head.

Slowly Minerva took his hand in hers. She and Albus noticed the twitching of Severus. They accepted it. It was a step forward that Severus allowed them this little gesture, when he usually avoided any physical contact.

Minerva had to search for some time until she found a pulse, albeit very weak.

"Severus, you don't have to answer with long sentences. I try to ask the questions so that you can answer yes or no, all right?

You have very deep wounds, probably from a Sectumsempra. The problem is that they can't be closed with the appropriate counter spell. We assume that you had to drink a potion that prevents this. Is that right?"

"Yes.

Dumbledore had a better idea of the answer than he heard it.

"Do you know what poison that was?"

"It is ... very rare. ... Nagini is... the one snake... here in Europe that... forms such a snake."

Severus found speaking more and more difficult.

"Albus, we should stop soon, his circulation won't keep up much longer. The pulse becomes slower and slower. I can hardly feel it anymore," Minerva threw in.

"I have two more questions and I ask you, Severus, not to speak. Dumbledore's gaze took on a sad expression.

"Is there an antidote?"

And when he saw the face of Severus, he already suspected the answer.

"No... Not yet. I ... Haven't figured out yet... where it exactly... exists."

"Don't speak, Severus." Albus looked more and more worried. He didn't want to torture him any longer, but he still had to ask the question.

"Another question, Severus. Who did this to you? Was it the aurors of the ministry?

Severus shook his head. "Death Eaters?" This time he nodded. "Who?

"Dumbledore, that's enough now! He is at the end of all his remaining powers. He has enough to stand through in the next few days.

Dumbledore thought feverishly. There had to be an opportunity to question Severus without him suffering any more.

A pressure on his hands took him out of his thoughts. Severus had been looking for his hand, which he had placed next to him on the blanket.

He looked into the black eyes of his protégé. For the first time he let him see his thoughts. This moment did not last long, for shortly afterwards Severus turned his gaze away.

He closed his eyes and his head tilted to the side.

"You really overdid it, Albus! How can you torture the boy like that now? The pulse is hardly measurable, and his breathing is also not exactly intoxicating. Can you imagine what kind of pain he is in?"

Without paying attention to Dumbledore, she bent over the bed and took the cloth out of the bowl of cold water.

She washed Severus, the sweat from her face and forehead.

"Albus?"

She had seen the pale hand of the headmaster and the look between them.

But only now, when she looked motionlessly at Dumbledore's lifeless face of Severus, did she realize what must have happened in that second.

"Albus!

Her slightly louder voice brought him back to the present.

"What did he show you? Or better said, who? I swear to you that the one who did this to Severus is facing great trouble. And I think you will tell Tom, not Albus? Who was it?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath before answering the question of his colleague and deputy.

"I don't know how I'm gonna tell Tom yet, but probably by giving him that memory. Anything else would hardly have a purpose, because he assumes that these were the Aurors.

Severus showed me a picture. An image of the people who inflicted these injuries on him.

He showed me Peter Pettigrew and Lucius Malfoy."

"But, Malfoy is in Azkaban, isn't he?"

"I thought so too, but he also showed me a scene in which Malfoy explained to him why it wasn't him at this moment.

He could convince the Aurors that he was innocent. He told them the same lies he had told twenty years ago".

"Does Tom know about it yet?"

"About the fact that he is no longer in Azkaban? Yes. After Tom came to the clearing, Lucius disappeared towards Riddle Manor. But he wanted to go to Malfoy Manor before, so they probably missed each other.

Pettigrew had to return as soon as possible so that his absence didn't take too long and he got into the circle of suspects.

Lucius can tell Tom the story that he was recently released from Azkaban. And he wanted to put on something clean before he stepped in front of his master's eyes.

Will you stay with Severus for that long? I must send an owl to the ministry!"

"Of course, Albus," Minerva replied.


	10. Chapter 10

Dumbledore left the room and went through the dungeons up to his office.

It was a comfortable room in which he felt very comfortable. Usually, but today he wanted to spend as little time as possible here.

He quickly crossed the round room and took some green powder from a can standing on the mantelpiece.

He squatted in front of the fireplace, threw the powder into the flames and shouted:

"Cornelius Fudge, Ministry of Magic."

Shortly thereafter he saw the head of the Minister of Magic in the flames.

"Dumbledore, I'm glad to see you." His tone, however, sounded as if he meant the opposite.

"I am pleased to meet you, Cornelius," Dumbledore replied politely.

"Why did you want to speak to me, Albus? I am in a bit of a hurry, I still have to write some press releases and I also have to go to the Muggle Minister.

"I do not want to bother you for long, Cornelius, so I will get straight to the point. I have learned from reliable sources that you have released Lucius Malfoy from his prison sentence. Why?

"Well, Dumbledore, as you know, I'm not supposed to tell you. Just this much: Mr. Malfoy, has produced some convincing arguments that have convinced the court of his innocence."

"Do these arguments, as you put it, consist of the fact that he told you once again that Voldemort forced him to do so? That he had been cursed by Imperius and that a large sum of money had changed hands?"

"I have already told you more than I was actually allowed to. I ask you to excuse me now, as I have some important business to attend to as Minister of Magic. Have a nice evening, Dumbledore."

With these words he left the fireplace.

"That was to be expected, Albus."

After Cornelius Fudge had abruptly broken off the conversation with Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school had gone over the secret passageways to the dungeons and had described the behaviour of the Minister of Magic to his deputy.

"I had actually expected nothing less. Has anything changed in the meantime?

"No. Poppy was down here for a moment. She said his condition had worsened. Of course, I didn't tell her anything about the conversation. I think we both know that was too much. We shouldn't have let it get this far."

"I know, Minerva. But it was important to find out."

"What are you going to do now," asked Gryffindors.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think we should give the students a few days off. Then Severus' absence would not be noticeable, Poppy could take care of normal school life and your lessons would not be affected.

And we also have Halloween in a few days. Maybe a trip to Hogsmeade would also be appropriate.

And I would have to talk to Tom again. I have some questions and I don't want to be in Peter's and Lucius' skin."

"I see it the same way with the students. That will be the best thing for everyone. Tom will want to visit Severus. I mean, he has a right to, but isn't that a little too risky? With all the students?"

"You're absolutely right, Minerva," Dumbledore replied. "So, I'm going to put the visit on the Saturday before Halloween. They'll all be in Hogsmeade and won't run the risk of seeing Tom.

The Halloween festival would then also be able to take place."

"So, you want to go to Tom tomorrow? Are you serious about the festival the day after tomorrow? Do you really feel like celebrating?"

"No, not really. But if we cancelled it, the students would notice that something was wrong. We must talk about who will stay with Severus during that time anyway. Not too many people should know about it. We can always disappear for half an hour.

Poppy can stay away longer. She could take over about the first hour at the beginning and the hour before the end of the party. I just don't know who to include."

"I would suggest Hagrid. He is very trustworthy. But he has often said that he would not be suitable for caring for people," Minerva interjected.

"I think that we have to divide it between the three of us somehow. And we can do that. Maybe he'll be a little better by then."

In her voice light hope resonated. She wished it for herself and for Severus with all her heart.

"Let's wait and see tomorrow's conversation with Tom and then take a look," Dumbledore said with a glance at the clock. "The sun has already risen. You should tell your house and the other house teachers that they should all go to Hogsmeade today. It's like a house trip.

Professor Flitwick will represent you today."

Minerva smoothed her cape and made her way to the big hall, where the students and teachers already had their breakfast.


	11. Chapter 11

Minerva entered the Great Hall, which was equipped with five long tables.

The four tables of the houses Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were occupied by the students, most of whom talked about the nice weather, their plans for the weekend, Quidditch and the upcoming Halloween party and a few about homework and exams.

Another table stood on a pedestal. Here sat the teachers, who could always keep an eye on their protégés.

As soon as she had reached the table, she asked for rest at the teacher's table. She explained her headmaster's plan to her colleagues and asked Flitwick to take charge of her house.

The teachers had noticed the three free chairs. It was not surprising that Severus Snape's chair remained free on some Saturdays. After all, everyone knew about his work as a spy for the Order. She was surprised, however, that Dumbledore also stayed away from breakfast and had his instructions given by his overtired looking deputy.

"Everything is fine. I didn't sleep much tonight. We have a full moon again and I can't sleep a wink. Albus is well. I saw him briefly this morning. He asked me to give you the introductions, because he was called by the minister for an urgent conversation and he did not know when he would come back."

"What about Severus? He is missing too," asked Professor Flitwick, the little teacher of magic. "Is he on his way for the Order again?"

"No, not today. I think he slept a bit longer and then had breakfast in his rooms, or he will. I don't know."

Minerva was glad that none of the teachers mastered Legilimency. She didn't manage today to concentrate on closing her mind and directing her thoughts, which were always about Severus, to something else.

She forced herself to drink a cup of coffee and eat a roll. If she had immediately gone back to the dungeon, her colleagues would have become suspicious and would have asked her embarrassing questions. It was already difficult enough to think up the stories.

Her gaze glided over the heads of the students and got stuck at the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley had put their heads together and spoke quietly as their glances wandered to Severus and Albus empty places.

When they noticed that they were being watched by their home teacher, they turned their heads away from the teacher's table, interrupted their conversation, and devoted themselves to their breakfast as they pondered their own thoughts.

Minerva looked at the clock and found that she had already spent half an hour in the Great Hall. Dumbledore was certainly waiting for her return.

She walked through the hall, which was slowly emptying. The house teachers had told their students that all students should be in their respective common rooms in half an hour.

Minerva looked around before continuing her way up the stairs to the dungeons. If anyone saw her now, the lies she had told her colleagues were in vain and the injuries to Severus no longer a secret.

After a few minutes, seemingly endless to her, she had reached the private rooms of the potions teacher and quietly knocked on the door before entering.


	12. Chapter 12

After the door fell quietly into the castle behind Minerva, the headmaster of Hogwarts remained undecided in Severus' living room. A fire was burning in the fireplace, which Minerva had lit when leaving the room.

His gaze wandered further through the room and got caught on the large desk, on which there were various stacks of parchment. Dumbledore approached him and realized that these were homework and class tests that had been handed in, divided into three categories.

The left pile contained the already corrected works, while the right pile still had to be looked up. The small stack was the one to look up. It was a performance check of the second graders who had dealt with the topic "Simple poisons and simple antidotes".

"How fitting," Dumbledore kidnapped when his gaze fell on Severus's small careful handwriting, in which he had written comments and corrections to the margins of the papers.

The essay, which belonged to a Lydia Abercrombie, was almost finished and was interrupted at the penultimate question asking for the antidote to all simple poisons. Here Tom had called Severus, with the result that this and the following work would remain lying for a while.

Dumbledore stood up and stretched out. He felt that his bones weren't as comfortable as they once had been when he had been sitting for a long time.

"Dobby!

He called out his favourite house elf, whom Harry Potter had freed a few years ago from his master, who was none other than Lucius Malfoy. Since then he lived as a free and paid houself in Hogwarts and appeared with a quiet plop in Severus' living and working room.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir. I wish you a wonderful morning. You look a little worried. Can I get you anything? You weren't at breakfast today," the house-elf jerked.

Nothing escaped him either...

"Thank you for asking, Dobby. It would be nice if it would be such a morning, but I doubt it. You could bring me a pot of tea and some toast down here."

As soon as he had expressed his wish, it plopped again and the house-elf had disappeared with another bow.

Dumbledore conjured up an armchair and let it float into the bedroom. He sat down next to Severus' bed and waited. A third pop announced Dobby's return.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir. I'll bring you your breakfast. Dobby also added some chocolate. Maybe this will help you get rid of your worries. Can Dobby ask what's bothering the principal," Dobby asked as he placed the tray on the bedside table and filled a cup of steaming tea.

Even before he had understood Dobby's question and before he could even think about a suitable answer, the house elf looked at Severus.

The cup in his hand began to shake threateningly and threatened to fall out of his hand at any moment. Dumbledore took the jar from Dobby's hand and lifted the elf to the edge of the bed.

"Was... Was Master Snape... was he with... again," stuttered Dobby.

"Yes, Dobby." Dumbledore replied with a sigh. "That's not his work, though, but Peter Pettigrews and Lucius Malfoys'."

When Dobby heard his old man's name, he began to bob back and forth. His eyes looked for...

"No, Dobby. I forbid you to hurt yourself. You have nothing to do with this! That is not your fault!

"But Dobby can't see this one... killing my new master's best friend. Dobby is to blame that this happened. Dobby should have tried to prevent that."

"Dobby! You couldn't have done anything. And Severus is not dead." Not yet' he added in thoughts. "But you could do me and Severus a big favour. Can you tell Hagrid to get some of the tea he had when Severus was in school? He will know which one I mean. And another request: As you know, we have Halloween tomorrow. Minerva and I can't stay away from the party all the time, that would lead to the others getting something of this story here. Could you maybe stay with Severus for a few hours?"

"But of course, Professor Dumbledore Sir. Dobby is glad he can do something."

The house-elf seemed more relaxed and you could see that he didn't have to sit around idly.

As soon as the Dobby had disappeared with a quiet plop, Dumbledore heard the door to Severus' rooms open and Minerva return from her trip out of the Great Hall. She reports to him immediately. "The teachers did not suspect anything when I told them that you were having breakfast in the Ministry and Severus, as on many Saturdays, in his rooms. I explained my fatigue to them by saying that there was a full moon today and I could never sleep there, which is true in a way.

The only thing that worries me is that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley very often looked up to the teacher's table during a conversation."

"Well, don't put the devil against the wall. We'll tell them the same thing, of course. I had a visit during your absence from Dobby, who was so friendly and brought me some tea and toast down here. He was very upset about Severus's condition, especially after hearing who taught him all the injuries.

He offered to stay with Severus for a few hours during tomorrow's celebration. Then we don't have to disappear so often and Severus is not alone.

You look very tired, Minerva. Go to sleep for a few hours."

"No, I'll stay here while you pay Tom a visit. I'll let you know if anything changes here. Poppy and Dobby are also close by.

Has anything changed here?"

"I think the fever has gone up a bit and I found a red stripe here that wasn't there before. I believe anyway. Poppy wants to be here in a few seconds, I sent her a patronus. Just before you came. Let's see what she has to say."

As soon as Dumbledore had finished the sentence, the door opened and the healer came in and began her examinations after listening to her headmaster's explanations.

"I can confirm that the fever has gone up. We absolutely must see that we get it lowered. If that doesn't happen soon, the protein molecules will break and be irreparably damaged. Then his chance of survival is zero.

As for the red line, Dumbledore: this is blood poisoning. It comes from all the injuries, especially to the lungs. I'd like to do something about it, but I'm not allowed to use spells or potions because his body is too weak and the haematopoiesis potion wouldn't work.

We must observe this for a while now. And we worry about whether, if it doesn't go back within the next hour, we will let him die of blood poisoning, or whether we will give him something and accept the risks.

But I can't make the decision alone. It is a miracle that he survived the night. But if I'm completely honest, Albus, I don't know if what we're doing here is right. Although I couldn't do anything else.

Please call me if anything changes. I'll come back in about an hour."

An affected silence spread among those present. Everyone realized that the Severus were only torturing him, but they didn't have the heart to let him die in peace.

"Can you do this here, Minerva? I'd go to Tom's so I wouldn't be away too long."

Minerva just nodded while she renewed the water and cooled Severus's forehead.

She barely noticed that Dumbledore was leaving the room and the castle.

Minerva wanted to know more about Nagini's poison. Hopefully Dumbledore could find out something. Maybe Tom knew something about it himself.

She was with Severus with her thoughts and the question how it should go on now...

If even Poppy didn't have a solution. When even she thought the situation was almost hopeless. When she ruled out 99% of the possibility that Severus's body could not muster the strength to heal the injuries itself.

Was it too late then?

Couldn't anyone help him anymore?

What if he really couldn't make it?


	13. Chapter 13

Dumbledore walked through the abandoned castle with large, sweeping steps. It was as quiet as it is now, at most during the holidays, when the pupils and the teachers, with a few exceptions, had left Hogwarts.

He crossed the large entrance hall and left the castle through a small side door, recessed into the large oak portals, and walked down the path that led down to the forbidden forest.

The path led him past Hagrid's hut, where light was still burning, into the forest to one of the secret gates of which only he, Hagrid and Severus knew.

When he saw Hagrid's hut, he remembered his mission and made a mental note that he would stop by after his visit to Tom.

Dumbledore reached the gate unseen. He thought of two places where he could find Tom.

One was a small suburb of London in a desolate little street called Spinners End. The probability of finding him here, however, was negligible. The Aurors still didn't trust Severus and were still watching his house. Therefore, he spent the greatest part of his holidays in Hogwarts.

And Tom, who of course knew about this, would not do the ministry the favour of surrendering himself by visiting his most important man among his Death Eaters.

The other place was the estate of his father's family. The old janitor still lived here, but he doesn't know everything anymore.

The neighbours were still suspicious, but they couldn't notice everything either, because Tom would have secured his property with some powerful spells.

Dumbledore decided to try Little Hangelton and concentrated on his goal before a quiet plop announced his disappearance.

Another plop sounded and Dumbledore saw the great House of Riddles, which had lost much of its original glory as the janitor could no longer take care of everything as the Muggle slowly grew old.

Dumbledore opened the gate and approached the property slowly and attentively. When he tried to open the door, it opened as if by magic.

Dumbledore went in with his wand drawn. He didn't expect Tom to attack him because he was too worried and Dumbledore was the key to his spy.

But he didn't want to take the risk of being surprised by an enemy.


	14. Chapter 14

Dumbledore stepped into a great hall. Two staircases, the outlines of which he could only see schematically, led to the upper floors. But he didn't have to go that far.

Tom leaned against one of the railings and seemed to have expected him.

"Dumbledore. It was nice that you found your way into my house," he greeted his old teacher.

"Well, I would have come earlier, Tom, but certain circumstances prevented me. Furthermore, I had to think about where I would find you. But don't we want to sit down," Dumbledore replied.

"How is Severus?" the Dark Magician wanted to know after she had sat down in a slightly dusty fireplace room. Dumbledore lit a fire that gave the room some warmth and bathed it in a cosy light.

This room, too, had lost much of its former splendour. The cupboards with the books were dusty and many of the folios were riddled with worms so that their bindings detached from the pages of the text.

"Severus is in a very bad way at the moment. He has lost a lot of blood through some wounds caused by the Sectumsempra, which cannot be closed. We are waiting for the poison he had to take..."

"Had to take?"

"Yes. He was forced. But I'll come right to it. I show you a memory of Severus. Now, as I said, we try to compensate the blood loss with hematopoietic potions. But we can't give him anything against the pain of Crutiatus and its aftereffects and the broken ribs that we can't heal. You are aware of this. I don't have to mention that his circulation is in the cellar, or that it's hardly there anymore.

To make matters worse, the time he spent out there in the wet and cold has caught him pneumonia, which is also very dangerous if left untreated. All these injuries, especially to the lungs, have added blood poisoning this morning... You know its effects, I suppose"?

"Yes. Did Severus have anything to say? They were talking about a memory."

"We had to wake Severus to get the information on the incident. Severus said the poison he had to take was from Nagini. And so, it's out of the question that the attack on him is auroric..."

"Are you saying it was me?" asked Tom Riddle, who was angry suddenly.

"No, Tom. I know it wasn't you. Let me finish, please. Severus also said that there is no antidote to the poison and the usual universal poisons would also not work.

"Yes, that's true. He was looking for an antidote. But Nagini's toxin consists of a lot of substances whose antidotes often do not harmonize with each other. The ones he could already identify are only a small part. It is a very demanding and tedious task, for the first time the age of the poison also plays an important role."

"I brought you the memory of Severus in this glass. It contains the faces of those who taught him the injuries."

Tom stood up and went to a small think tank standing in a corner and emptied the jar.

After a few moments he came back. He seemed relatively calm. He was just a little paler than he already was.

His voice trembled with suppressed anger as he asked "Can I visit Severus?

Dumbledore nodded and looked at his former student concerned.

"Are you all right, Tom?"

"Yes, thanks for asking."

Dumbledore got up from his chair and stretched his tired limbs. The sleepless night became slowly noticeable.

"Don't be angry with me, Tom. I sent all the students and teachers on a trip. If they saw you in the castle, a panic would rise, which I want to prevent. And I would also have to explain Severus's absence.

So, I suggest we appear at the gates of Hogwarts a few meters further than the gate where you took Severus. Where the forbidden forest is, there is another gate, there we enter unseen by everyone.

Hagrid is the only one who could possibly see us."

We will see each other at the gates... See you soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Side by side, the two great magicians walked side by side through Hogwart's abandoned corridors.

Someone unfamiliar with the world of sorcerers and witches would see them as just two worried men. An old man and a young man. Nothing unusual- actually.

Only someone who knows the story of them would know what was deceptive about this peaceful picture that the two of them gave.

No one would let the younger of the two into these walls, at least not voluntarily. Tom Vorlost Riddle alias Lord Voldemort was the greatest black magician since Grindelwald.

It was unfortunate that only the injury of her important spy was necessary to allow a truce between the teacher and his former student, at least temporarily.

To leave the community of witches and wizards alone for a few days. Not to kill any other people.

Was it necessary that this one, who lay seriously injured in his rooms, would sacrifice his life in order to unite the sorcerer community for a short moment?

Dumbledore led his guest deeper and deeper into the catacombs of the castle until he stopped in front of a somewhat hidden door and opened it.

Wordlessly, he told him to enter and closed the door behind him. He went into the bedroom in front of Tom, where Minerva McGonagall was still sitting on the chair watching over Severus.

When Dumbledore entered the room with the black magician in tow, she looked up and approached her.

"Any changes," the headmaster asked.

His deputy shook her head. "No, but the blood poisoning doesn't seem to have migrated any further. That's positive. The same goes for the fever, which hasn't gone down yet, but hasn't gone up either."

Dumbledore nodded. He looked over to the bed as Severus was still lying dead. Tom had sat down next to him on the edge and taken his pale hand into his own. With the other he washed his forehead and face.

"We'll leave you alone now. We're waiting for you in the living room, Tom. If something should be, you only must shout.

"Do you really think we should leave him alone with Severus," Minerva asked her superior worried.

"Why not? Why should he do anything to him now? Bring him here first and then kill him. In my opinion pointless."

"Yes, probably you are right as always," the teacher for transformation replied.

Tom sat next to Severus on the bed and looked into his pale face.

"What should I do? I wonder how they got the poison. Nagini obeys only me, and she won't be milked by anyone else...

Too little is known about this poison, Severus. You could easily find an antidote if you knew the ingredients. And now the researcher has fallen victim to his research object.

If only I could help you somehow. But how am I supposed to do that when even Poppy and Dumbledore are powerless. And now Halloween is just around the corner. You certainly couldn't take the potion...

And you're the only one who knows the recipe."

He interrupted his thoughts when Severus slowly opened his eyes.

When he recognized Tom, he tried to straighten up, but was pushed back by him.

"No, Severus."

"But... MyLord."

"Do not speak. You need your strength for more important than a conversation with me."

"But, when... Dumbledore..."

"We have nothing to fear from him, Severus. He came to see me and let me into the castle."

Severus tried hard to close his mind, which he finally succeeded in doing. The last thing he could use was that Tom discovered his espionage work for Dumbledore.

"Rest, Severus. I still have two people to talk to. You hear from me..."

Severus had already missed the last part of the sentence, he had closed his eyes and was unconscious again. The few minutes of occlusion had robbed him of his few powers.

Voldemort stood up from the bed, laid the left Severus on the ceiling and left the room.

In the next room Minerva and Dumbledore sat with a cup of coffee and talked.

"He woke up briefly. For a minute or two. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out more than you could.

But you should know something.

For about twenty years Severus has been haunted by a kind of Halloween curse for which there is no antidote.

He was able to develop a potion that alleviated the symptoms, but it had to be taken three days before Halloween. And you know that wasn't possible this time."

"What exactly do you mean by that, Tom," Dumbledore asked. "What kind of symptoms? "I saw it once. It started the year Trelawney made the prophecy. He is plagued by cramps and nightmares. He doesn't eat anything and looks very pale...

You can't really describe it.

I still remember him mentioning that he had a headache. Most of the time he withdraws, which is not very difficult that day. When he takes potion, everything doesn't get so bad.

I only know that I couldn't help him in the year when he didn't know the potion yet."

"Thank you, Tom, for your honesty. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have that information. It would have been very surprising. Where possible we would have looked for the cause of the symptoms somewhere else.

If it's all right with you, I'll take you to the gate!"

"My thanks go to you Professor. For allowing me to visit him. I hope that you will soon find something that will make him better...

Goodbye, Professor McGonagall."

Dumbledore rose from his armchair and accompanied his guest out to the castle, while Professor McGonagall went to her former student and current colleague.


	16. Chapter 16

Tom left the castle and his lands the same way he had gone about two hours ago in the opposite direction.

He said goodbye to Dumbledore at the gate and thanked him once again.

Behind the gate, where the apparatus protection was lifted, he turned on his own axis and disappeared with a quiet plop.

He appeared in front of an imposing multi-storey manor house. It testified that its owner was very wealthy and influential.

Tom walked through a wrought-iron gate along a wide driveway. The path was lined with blackberry and yew hedges.

He stepped towards the house, through whose diamond-shaped windows weak light shone. He stopped at the door and knocked.

A house-elf opened it to him and asked him in. He had been here many times before. The large entrance hall was poorly lit and its floor was decorated with a large carpet. The walls were decorated with pictures of deceased family members.

A massive wooden door opened to her left.

"MyLord. What an honour to welcome you here in my house. Come on in. You are welcome at any time."

Tom entered the room. It was one of the many fireplace rooms in the house. A large table, which had already been used for many Death Eating Meetings, stood in the middle. Around him there were about twenty chairs.

On one of them sat a little man of about forty years of age, who hastily jumped up in front of his master and bowed to him.

Tom took a seat in one of the armchairs standing in front of the fireplace and looked at his Death Eaters expressionlessly.

"It's nice that you escaped Azkaban, Malfoy. I had only expected to see you earlier," he interrupted the silence.

"I wanted to come earlier. I came here after my imprisonment to dress suitably and immediately appared for Riddle Manor. But you were not present. After waiting two hours, I came here to try again later.

However, Peter visited me and I lost track of the time. He informed me of the incidents.

I learned that our ranks had thinned out a little. Is that true, MyLord?"

"I fear Malfoy already. Let me ask you a question:

It's about an experiment. A man agrees to move for two weeks into a room that is completely shielded from the outside world. The door is just closed. But he could open it easily if he feels like it.

The same man does the same experiment again. But this time this door will be locked. So, he can't get out anymore.

Which experiment would you choose, Lucius Malfoy?"

"My Lord, I don't understand what I mean by this?"

"Just answer the question, that's all."

"I would, of course, choose the first."

Nodding he took note of Tom's answer, said nothing about it. He looked into the flames and occasionally drank a sip of the offered wine.

A few minutes passed before he broke the silence.

"In our last fight we lost Macnair and Mulciber. Crabbe was slightly injured, as was Peter. But I see he's up again.

Severus was also seriously injured. I found him in the forest and brought him to Hogwarts, where he is still unconscious. It doesn't look good."

Had his voice just worried and sounded tired, it was soaked with hate and rage as he went on. He spoke very softly and the hissing in his voice seemed very threatening.

"So, you came here directly from Azkaban and you appared Peter to my side as soon as the actual order was executed?

"Yes, My Lord," it came in two voices from the two Death Eaters.

Tom raised an eyebrow. "You didn't do anything else?"

A light click sounded. Tom had locked the doors with a non-verbal spell.

"No, my Lord. What do you mean?", it came slimy from Pettigrew.

Tom got up. "Imperio!

Malfoy and Pettigrew got a glassy look and suddenly there was nothing to see of their arrogance and submissiveness.

They sat down on the armchairs which stood in front of the fireplace and drank the wine presented without words or hesitation, into each of which Tom had put three drops of Veritaserum, which Dumbledore had put for him.

The Imperius fell away from the two of them, and I was only surprised that they sat in my armchairs once.

"You really didn't do anything? Lucius? Peter," Tom asked with an angry expression.

"But my master.

"We have ambushed Severus and..."

They took turns reporting their attack on the potion master. "We've seen him argue with Macnair. He gave instructions, as he always did, to get his people safely out of the attack. Macnair disagreed and made fun of him until an Avada of Aurors caught him. We took the chance and shocked Snape, forcing him to drink the poison Naginis, which we could steal from his laboratory before.

We hoped that we could kill him slowly and painfully. He works at Dumbledore and has risen in your respect.

We hoped to save you from disappointment."

"You fools," complained Tom, who now let his anger run free. "Severus Snape is our most important man in the fight against Dumbledore and Potter. He works for Dumbledore, yes. However, as a professor of potions, while at the same time he works for us, and only for us, as a spy!

Who is going to make all the potions for us soon, Malfoy? Are you? Or you, Pettigrew?

Mudbloods and Muggles know more than you do.

CRUICIO!

He let all the rage he had accumulated flow into the unforgivable curse.

Malfoy and Pettigrew had slipped off their chairs and crouched on the floor screaming their souls out.

After he took the spell from them, they lay on the ground.

He put the Imperius on them again and pressed a knife into each of them' hands and put a spell of silence on them.

You could see the fear in both their eyes.

He forced them to go into the basement of the house and ordered them to cut each other's aorta open after breaking their wands.

They should suffer just as Severus did. They would never hurt him again.

Five minutes after he had sent them to the cellar, he also went down to the cellar to check on the two bodies.

He found them. They were lying in their blood, of which they were so proud, which was now mingled on the ground. They had soiled their pure butt, their pride, with an act that would not allow them to live on, like a proud, pure-blooded sorcerer.

They were by the one act, in which they wanted to remove a like-minded, often even their life-saver, by a dirty, abnormal way, from the way, in order to be able to step in its place, from the way.

In his eyes, they were worth nothing more than Muggles and Mudbloods.

With a wipe of his wand he made the corpses and the blood disappear, turned around and left the estate, which was now empty, and appared to Riddle Manor.

Here he wanted to take a shower and then lie down to catch a few hours of sleep.

He couldn't do more than wait. Dumbledore had promised to let me know if anything would change in Severus' health.

He had decided to start the war, which he had been waging against his old teacher for years, at least until he had Severus among his people.

Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest, he had to convene another Death Eater meeting and come up with something for Severus's absence.

Besides, he didn't know how to keep his people quiet for the next few weeks,

But he would worry about that tomorrow...


	17. Chapter 17

Around four o'clock the teachers and the pupils returned from their excursion from Hogsmeade and filled the castle with life.

Poppy relieved Dumbledore and Minerva of their watch so that they could appear together for dinner in the Great Hall so as not to feed the rumour mill any more.

If the mediwizard didn't show up for dinner, it wasn't obvious, since she usually ate in the infirmary and only attended the banquets at the beginning and end of the school year.

Poppy sat down on the chair next to Severus' bed and took his ice-cold right hand despite the high fever.

Due to the high blood loss, his body only supplied the vital organs with the important elixir.

Half an hour later the headmaster and his deputy returned.

"How is he?" asked Dumbledore.

"Unchanged. However, I noticed that the wounds had stopped bleeding. It seems that the poison is slowly losing its effect. But I can't confirm that one hundred percent. There can be all sorts of reasons for this.

The fever has dropped slightly, but only by one degree. And that is far from enough.

We must try to get him to drink. It will be difficult."

"I understand. We'll replace you then, Poppy, and let you know if anything changes.

I left Professor Flitwick in charge of the decoration of the castle. A few teachers and students help him.

Dobby will take over the main shift at the guard tomorrow. So it's enough if you stop by in between."

"Dobby? How did you find him?"

"He brought me breakfast and saw Severus. Curious as he is, he asked what happened. And when he heard that it was his old man, he got very angry. I could stop him from storming into Malfoy Manor and killing his master.

But he wanted to do something for Severus, so I asked him to spend an hour or two here during the Halloween party."

"That's understandable. Severus always got along best with him, because he already knew him from old times.

I then look after my other patients in the infirmary.

Good night, Albus. Minerva."

She left the two professors who settled on both sides of the bed.

"You look exhausted, Albus. You should lie down for a few hours."

"No, Minerva. I couldn't sleep anyway."

The night that followed that evening dragged on.

Severus did not wake up, but became restless. Minerva and Dumbledore took turns wiping the sweat off his face.

As the morning dawned, the professors took turns going into the bathroom to take a hot shower and make the traces of the night disappear.

Poppy took over the guard after she had thoroughly examined her patient and found that there had been no improvement during the night, while the headmaster and his deputy could appear for breakfast.

It would be an exhausting day.

Not only for Severus.


	18. Chapter 18

When Dumbledore walked through the castle around noon, he couldn't help but admire the magic of his colleague Flitwick.

Under the ceiling of the Great Hall, countless bats flew and hollowed out pumpkins floated, which served as candlesticks. The walls were decorated with large cobwebs and dozens of pumpkins. Also the corridors were decorated according to the upcoming feast.

Most of the students were in their common rooms and prepared for the upcoming feast. Only a few of the pupils who greeted their headmaster ran into him.

Dumbledore had thought about the curse that night. Severus's body first had to cope alone with the consequences of the torture, at least until the effect of the snake venom had not completely faded away.

Dumbledore wanted to find out as much as possible about the spell. He himself had never heard of it, neither had his and Severus' library.

Tom, the greatest black magician of all time, only knew the symptoms and could not help him. Minerva and Poppy had also never heard of the curse.

He now wanted to see Hagrid, the guardian of the lands and key of Hogwarts. He didn't think the gamekeeper could tell him anything about it, but maybe he could tell him something about the symptoms and the curse.

Severus and Hagrid had a deep connection, almost friendship, if Severus could put it that way.

Severus had often visited Hagrid; mostly when he came back from meetings with Voldemort or when he - misunderstood by all - was punished in his school days for things that were ascribable to the foolers around James Potter.

Hagrid was always there for him when the others weren't. When he- Dumbledore- wasn't there for him when Severus needed him most.

Dumbledore had reached the gamekeeper's cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and was greeted by a yelping catch.

Shortly afterwards, Hagrid opened the door and invited his principal in. He offered him a cup of tea in one of his huge cups and carelessly told him about his animals in the forest and his latest achievements.

But as it was his way, Dumbledore quickly noticed that something was depressing.

"Is everything all right with you, Professor Dumbledore?"

"With me it is. I'm worried about Severus, Hagrid."

Hagrid had already suspected something like that. Although Dumbledore tried to sound as normal as possible, his eyes spoke a different language.

"So Severus was with him again, wasn't he? Although you saw that he wasn't well, you sent him there?"

"Yes. But this time it wasn't Voldemort. He was attacked and tortured by Malfoy and Pettigrew."

Dumbledore told him the whole story.

After Dumbledore had finished, the two remained silent.

"I've known about the curse for a long time. About twenty years ago Severus arrived with the symptoms you described. He had not yet developed the potion.

In the following years, he always came after sunset on Halloween. And although he had taken the potion, you could see that he was not well. He was always happy when the lesson ended earlier that day and he was not quite up to scratch on the days before.

He was very pale and seemed to have a fever, which he had, but would never admit. He always drank a cup of tea and then went to sleep, although it was not a quiet sleep.

You can't describe it, you just have to see it to understand what we mean.

He asked me not to tell anyone about it. Which I didn't do either, but I think it's an exception."

"Could you help him somehow? Can you define 'twenty years ago' more precisely?

"No, not really. I always let him sleep. I think that was the night that year after Lily and James died."

"Thank you Hagrid, you helped me a lot. Could you maybe stop by Severus later? I think he needs your help. But all this remains between us. None of the other colleagues knows about this!

"'Door to door headmaster!"

"I will then bring a pot of tea with me. Drinking can hardly harm him."

Dumbledore smiled at him once more and then walked away towards the castle.

The conversation had been very important and Dumbledore had more insights than he had hoped.

Severus had occupied himself with the unknown curse, of which there probably wasn't even a countercurse, in order to always remember his betrayal and murder - as he called it - of Lily and to have to suffer just as they did.

His love for her and his inexcusable mistake, for which he risked his life as a spy on Dumbledore's side, could this time really have killed him.


	19. Chapter 19

The rest of the day flew by. The excitement of the students, who were looking forward to the big banquet in the hall and the following ball, was almost tangible.

Severus still showed no improvement from the consequences of torture. His condition worsened due to the slowly occurring symptoms of the curse.

Poppy became more and more worried, as did the headmaster and his deputy.

"I don't know what not to do with him. He actually needs a drink, but if we give him something like that, I'm afraid that the liquid will get into the windpipe," said Poppy, who was standing next to her superiors at the magical potion professor's bed.

"I once read that the Muggles administer fluid through the vein. That was such a word with I at the beginning," Minerva mentioned.

"Infusions? Actually not a bad idea, but due to the high blood loss too risky and he has an allergy to the Na... ."

Poppy was interrupted by Dumbledore during your remarks. He sat on the edge of the bed and held Severus' hand.

"Severus, my boy," it came quietly from him.

When the two witches turned to them, they saw that Severus opened his eyes, slowly and as if the bright light in his eyes was hurting him.

Minerva pulled her wand and darkened the room a little.

"How are you? No, stay down, Severus. You must have a drink.

Severus was pushed back into the pillows by Dumbledore as he tried to stand up. He took a cup standing on the bedside table and filled it with grape juice.

He put one hand under Severus's neck and supported him while holding the cup with his other hand.

Severus drank half a cup as he turned his head away. With good persuasion, Dumbledore managed to persuade him to drink the other half as well.

"Severus, do you know how long Nagini's poison lasts?"

"Not exactly. I estimate the duration of action to be about 60 hours."

Dumbledore had trouble understanding his protégé. Two and a half days, then.

So the effect should have almost subsided.

"We have Halloween today, Severus."

His boy turned his head away and became even paler.

"Severus, what have you got?"

He gave the two witches one look to understand and left them alone for a moment. Severus would only tell when they were alone. He had always done so.

But he would never ask Dumbledore to send out Gryffindor's tutor and the mediwizard. He would rather remain silent.

"Speak, Severus. We are alone."

"Voldemort, I dreamt he had been here."

"You weren't dreaming, he was really here. He had asked me to visit you. If I had denied him this request, he would have discovered your espionage work."

"Maybe he even did, I don't know if I could close my mind properly..."

"He couldn't do it, he didn't have a wand, and I put a spell on you that I knew would try."

"And the students?

Severus' voice was little more than a whisper.

"They were safe from the beginning. I sent them all with the teachers to Hogsmeade. You should rest now, Severus. You still have a long night ahead of you. I have heard of the curse.

It goes without saying that you will not come to the feast. I have spoken with Hagrid. He comes by later and wanted to bring you something."

"Hagrid? Did he... Did he...?"

"What Severus?

"He promised not to do it..."

Severus tried to get away from Dumbledore. It cost him all his strength to rip his hand out of the headmaster's hand and bring the greatest possible distance between them.

He tried to turn, sank back, groaning in pain, and remained lying with his eyes closed.

Dumbledore could understand him. He took the cloth out of the bowl and washed the sweat from his face.

Slowly Severus opened his eyes.

"Go... please!"

"Severus, please listen to me."

"He has abused my trust."

His breathing became faster and flatter. Dumbledore knew the symptoms and they were anything but beneficial to his boy's maltreated body. He couldn't use a panic attack now.

He bends over Severus and, although he resisted, took both hands into his own.

"Severus, look at me. Look me in the eyes. Hagrid said nothing. I was with him, yes. I also tried to find something out of him, but he refused. He said he gave you the promise not to say anything to anyone.

Voldemort told me about the curse. He didn't know much about it, but he said we should know about it so we wouldn't write the signs that appeared something else.

Hagrid himself said that he would say nothing, absolutely nothing. He merely asked me to join you tonight. I gladly accepted his help."

Severus had calmed down again with the quietly spoken words and still breathed flatly, but at least evenly.

He nodded.

"Sorry Dumble..."

"Severus, you don't have to apologize. Do me a favour and get some sleep. When you wake up again, we will be able to give you something for the pain. Now it's still too risky."

Dumbledore waited a few minutes and brought the two professors back in.

"What happened, Dumbledore?" asked Poppy.

"Severus got a little excited, but calmed down just as quickly. He said the poison would last about 60 hours. So we could give him a pain potion later if he doesn't interact with the hematopoietic potion. What do you mean, Poppy?"

"I think we can stop the potion, it only worked as long as the poison was active. After that, Severus's body won't react. He got it too often."

"All right, Dobby and Hagrid should be there soon. You can already go up. I'll follow then. I only explain to the two what they must pay attention to.

On the corridor the expected ones already met them. Hagrid with a huge pot of tea under my arm.

When the headmasters arrived in the hall, all the tables were already filled with students and the teacher's table with professors. Everything was waiting for Dumbledore to open the party.

It became a glittering party and when Dumbledore moved the party against two into the common rooms, he had no idea what was going on in the dungeons of the castle a few floors below at the same time.


	20. Chapter 20

Dumbledore was the last to leave the Great Hall in a buoyant mood, having sent the last students into their houses, and went down to the dungeons.

Minerva and Poppy had left five minutes ago as they were no longer needed.

He opened the door to the private rooms of Severus. Excited voices, talking in such a confused way, pushed towards him that he could not understand a word that was spoken.

He dropped the door behind him into the castle with a loud bang and literally flew through the living room. The door to the bedroom was a crack wide open.

He saw the shadows of the two witches, a house elf and the semi-giant Hagrid.

The closer he came, the better he could understand the voices. They seem panicky and in some ways helpless.

"Not Hagrid. You can't do that."

"Leave it to Hagrid, we cannot help him!

Dumbledore entered the room and there was a picture of despair.

Hagrid was facing Minerva and Poppy, while Severus was in bed shaken by cramps. One could already feel the heat that emanated from him at a distance. Even without being a doctor, Dumbledore knew that the fever was dangerously high.

The pot was still standing on the bedside table, untouched, which probably meant that Severus hadn't woken up.

Dumbledore stormed past the two witches.

"What's going on here? Minerva? Poppy? Hagrid?"

The three of them looked at each other shamefaced. Finally Minerva answered.

"Hagrid wants Severus ..."

"Leave Hagrid. He has the most experience with this situation. We don't manage to calm Severus down in any way."

"But from where...?"

Again the headmaster interrupted his deputy.

"That's one thing that only concerns Hagrid, me and Severus."

It meant getting Hagrid closer to the bed.

"Could you please give me the blanket, Professor Dumbledore? I need a little help."

He knocked the blankets that were warming Severus in bed and sweating wet to the side and took him in like a little child being lifted out of his bed.

Dumbledore sent the overtired Professor McGonagall and the mediwizard to their rooms to get some sleep. They couldn't do anything now.

He had Dumbledore put the blanket around Severus' shoulders, and then sat down on the edge of the bed with Severus on his lap.

The headmaster sat down next to his gamekeeper and looked at Severus.

Severus tried to defend himself, but was so restricted in his movements by the ceiling and the firm pressure that gave him safety and security that he finally gave up defending himself and became calmer and calmer. Also his sobs, which shook him, became less and less.

Dumbledore didn't know what Severus was going through right now, but was sure it had to be horrible.

He decided to ask Severus on occasion how he came up with such a curse and what kind of pictures were going on in his mind's eye.

He did not believe that he would get answers, but he would try.

He squeezed on Hagrid's warm body as if expecting someone to take him away.

The warmth also relaxed his muscles, so that the cramps were softened. After a few minutes he began to breathe more calmly, only the fever remained.

The young man looked a lot older than he was. The anguish of the curse had thrown his healing progress back.

Fortunately, the poison had lost its effect, otherwise the wounds of the Sectumsempra would undoubtedly have opened again.

"Professor Dumbledore. I think he's waking up," Hagrid got him out of his thoughts.

In fact, Severus slowly opened his eyes. He didn't seem to notice Dumbledore yet.

Hagrid's black beetle eyes glittered as they saw his friend's eyes. Under his beard you could see that he was smiling.

"Hagrid..."

Dumbledore had risen from his seat and went over to the bedside table to pour a cup of tea.

With it in his hand, he went back and handed it to Hagrid.

"Dumbledore..."

Severus had now also seen the director.

"I brought you something, Severus. You can still remember it, can't you?" asked the gamekeeper.

With these words he led the cup to Severus' lips, who wanted to grab it with both hands.

Hagrid noticed the movement and the effort of Severus to hold the cup and smiled.

"'You can't help it, can you?"

He held the cup from below, so that Severus could hold the cup but did not have to carry the weight.

Severus drank the cup to the point and Dumbledore noticed that the fever sank. He took the cup from them again and filled it again. "Before you drink this cup, I have a vial for you to finish. This is a pain potion. I wonder how you manage to stop the pain, Severus. That's admirable."

After drinking the potion of pain, which, according to his facial expression, had not been very tasty, he emptied the second cup of Hagrid's tea, which reminded him of his happy time in the gamekeeper's hut.

Severus found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. He cuddled up in his blanket and to his friend.

He had once again managed to help his best friend without knowing what he was doing. This case was an example that there was still hope when medicine was finished with its knowledge.

"You look very tired, professor. They should also lie down a little. I stay here."

"You are right Hagrid. I'll be next door. Please call me if something should change here."

"I will, professor!"

Hagrid put the sleeping Severus back into the bed that Dobby had freshly put on, and then sat down in one of the armchairs.


	21. Chapter 21

It had been a few days since he was informed by Dumbledore about Severus' state of health. He did not know how to interpret this. Was that good and Severus on the mend or was it getting worse and Dumbledore busy saving him from death?

During the day he was distracted by his thoughts about Severus from the Death Eaters, because they were not supposed to notice his condition. For most of them it worked. Although they noticed that Pettigrew, Malfoy and Severus were missing, they were satisfied that the first two had died and that Hogwarts could not leave them now in order not to expose his espionage activities and therefore could not attend the meetings for the time being.

They took note of it and did not take any further care of it. All but one.

Avery.

He had never been good at closing his mind and so one day he didn't disappoint like the others after the meeting but asked for a conversation.

"My Lord," he began, "I haven't seen him since the day that Severus didn't return on the mission. What really happened to him? He was hurt, wasn't he?"

Avery, after Severus, was the best man Tom had. He understood like Severus, but not quite as well as he did, to observe the people and to draw conclusions by their behaviour to facts which did not correspond to the truth as they were presented at that moment.

Tom stood at the window and watched the rain running down the pane in long threads. Like that one night. The thunderstorm that joined it came closer and closer and thunder was heard directly on every lightning.

On the outside he looked as usual, and only those who watched him properly could see the slightly cramped shoulders, which indicated that something was burdening him.

He wondered what he could tell Avery, was allowed to. Avery was Severus' best friend, if you could call it that. Could he trust him? Or was he planning something. Avery's thoughts, into which he could get unnoticed, brought clarity.

Avery was really worried about his friend and Tom was ready to tell him something.

"You're absolutely right, Avery. Severus didn't come back that night. You know how important he is to our side as a spy and brewer, so I spent some time after I discharged you on my way to find him.

I found him near the apartment boundary you told me about. Seriously injured and completely wet.

But it wasn't the Aurors who did this suffering to him, it was some of our men!

Tom took a break and watched Avery closely. His face had lost all his blood and he seemed more than upset.

"Had I known that, My Lord, I would have stayed with him. I wouldn't have let him down."

"You couldn't help it, Avery. Pettigrew and Malfoy joined forces to commit this ambush. They received their just punishment."

"What exactly... How is Severus? And where is he?"

"Malfoy and Pettigrew have forced Severus to drink a potion containing Nagini's poison, thus preventing the wounds inflicted on him by the Sectumsempra from closing up and he would sooner or later die of enormous blood loss.

The wounds were inflamed and blood poisoning was added.

As if that wasn't enough, they shot some Cruciatus curses at him and broke four ribs. Due to the long time he was out in the rain he got pneumonia which caused him a very high fever.

And to top it all off, we had Halloween this weekend. He was struck a long time ago by a curse that causes him to be plagued by cramps and nightmares and has headaches.

He was able to develop a potion that had to be taken three days before.

He couldn't do that this year. And so he also had to go through that. That was last night.

After I found him in the forest, I first brought him here. But because I lacked the means to treat him, I brought him to Hogwarts. Where else?

Dumbledore then found him and took him with him to the castle. Three days ago he gave me a report and it didn't look very good for Severus.

Since then I have no idea how he is doing."

Tom hadn't turned around a single time while talking to Avery. He kept looking out the window without really noticing anything.

Avery interrupted the silence.

"Is there anything I can do, My Lord?"

"I'm afraid not. I just must wait and hope that his body can cope with the strain itself.

I'm just asking you not to tell anyone else, they wouldn't understand and it's none of their business."

"But of course, My Lord."

With a bow he said goodbye and left the house and property.

Tom looked after him and opened the window of an owl that flew towards him.

He didn't know the owl and as soon as he had removed the parchment roll from her leg, she flew away again.

The letter was from Dumbledore and when he had read it he put his trembling hand on the desk next to the chair on which he had sat during the reading.


	22. Chapter 22

Dear Tom,

I apologize for not letting you hear anything more, but here at Hogwarts, events were overflowing. Yesterday's short note will hardly have alleviated your concern.

After your visit I was with a person who is very close to Severus here because they have known each other for a long time. I tried to find out something about the curse from her after my and Severus' library had failed in this area.

I learned from her that this saying was not to be found in any book. It is a newer curse developed by none other than our Severus.

He created it to be regularly reminded of his greatest mistake. Of course there is no antidote.

As you know, it is very difficult for him to cope with the effects in a healthy state and you can certainly imagine what it was like this time.

Some hours before he got a blood poisoning, but I already told you that in the short info.

Around two I went back to Severus, who I left in the care of Hagrids and Dobbys. During the Halloween ball I took turns going down with Poppy Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall to check on things. However, we could never disappear for too long because this would have led to unpleasant questions.

So it was only at the end of the festival that I was able to return down to the dungeons, where I was offered a picture that was very difficult to describe.

Minerva and Poppy, who had left a few minutes before me, were unable to move in the door. Poppy tried to keep Hagrid from taking Severus out of bed and dressing him something dry to keep him from aggravating pneumonia and calming him down with his closeness, as the cramps and nightmares that kept him trapped were worse than the aftermath of Crutiatus.

Hagrid managed to calm him down and mitigate the effects of the curse without weakening the potion.

In this respect, we owe him much.

I went out briefly and when I came back about five minutes later, a dissolved Hagrid ran into my arms.

He was unable to speak and so I sent him up to the hospital wing to order Poppy down here.

I entered Severus' rooms with a bad feeling. My footsteps got faster and faster the closer I got to the bedroom. In the door frame I stopped in horror and realized how well I could rely on my voice.

Severus was lying in his bed and the sheets were soaked in blood. The wounds were broken open again by the muscle contractions during the cramps and his body was weakened by another enormous loss of blood.

With Poppy's help I managed to close the wounds with the Sectumsempra-countercurse. We gave him a blood formation potion.

Through the efforts the fever has risen again. His breathing was very shallow and irregular and his pulse hardly noticeable.

Now we cannot do more than wait and see and I know that you have often heard from me, but there is no other possibility and it is also very difficult for me.

As soon as enough blood has formed we can go and give him a strengthening potion.

I would like to ask you to drop by again, but to prevent a panic I would have to leave the school and that is not possible at the moment.

But I will keep you up to date.

Yours sincerely

Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore flew over the letter again. He hadn't revealed much. Beside the mentioned reason there was another one who spoke against letting Tom into the castle.

Severus would again try to shut his mind and this would lead to him wasting more energy that he will inevitably need for his recovery.

Any further visit by Tom would represent another security breach for Severus's espionage activities.

Dumbledore brought the owl to the window and wished her a good flight and went down to the dungeon to his protégé.


	23. Chapter 23

Albus Dumbledore was stopped by Poppy Pomfrey on his way to the dungeon. She seemed more than desperate.

"It can't and shouldn't go on like this, Albus. If Severus doesn't wake up soon, I don't see any hope for him anymore. He has simply lost too much blood and the potions don't strike as desired.

For him it would be better to just leave him alone now. Him in peace ..."

She didn't finish the sentence, and yet Dumbledore knew what she meant. Severus had already suffered many serious injuries and the last one was not too long ago.

Maybe that was also the reason. His already weakened body, which of course he did not accept, was simply overwhelmed with the new wounds.

Dumbledore had similar thoughts as the Poppy's always want to nip this in the bud, although a voice had always whispered this truth into his ear.

"I know Poppy. But I just wouldn't bring it over my heart. I just couldn't. He did so much for us that I just..."

"But we won't help him like this, Albus. We torture him. Do you want to express your thanks to him in this way? By keeping him alive with every means at his disposal?

"I know, Poppy, I know. We give him three days and then we see further. Now if you'll excuse me, please? I was on my way to Severus."

"Of course.

Poppy scurried towards the hospital wing to look after her other patients, while Dumbledore went towards the dungeon.

He stopped at one corner.

"... must be something. I bet he was thrown out because he's really on the other side," he heard the voice of Ron Weasley.

"Ron is definitely right, Mine. Why else would Slughorn teach? I mean he's a lot better than Snape," said Harry Potter.

"Why, can't you believe what you're told?" asked an angry Hermione Granger. "Do you always have to think badly of him?

Yes, I don't think he's a friendly teacher either, but do you always have to drag him into the mud like that?

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bunch of full... Keeping chaos under control so they don't blow up the whole castle at the simplest potions?

And then there's the role of a spy. I can't believe it!"

Dumbledore decided to have heard enough and stepped around the corner.

"Good evening to you three. Shouldn't you be in your common room or outside on the estates?

"Yes, of course, Professor Dumbledore," Harry replied. He turned around and wanted to leave the entrance hall with Hermione and Ron.

"Miss Granger, would you mind if I spoke to you for a moment because of your role as school president?"

So Harry and Ron left the castle alone and went down towards the lake, while Hermione walked towards her principal.

"Yes, professor?"

"Hermione, may I call you that?"

"Sure.

"I thought it was very brave and honourable that you just stood up for Professor Snape to your friends."

"But it is the truth. Most people judge people only by what they see and what they want to see. And that usually does not correspond to reality. I also don't really believe that Professor Snape is currently travelling for the Order."

"What makes you say that, Hermione?"

"I can see it on their faces, Professor. She and Professor McGonagall look very depressed. And in my opinion, Madame Pomfrey often comes out of the dungeons."

"You have an extraordinary power of observation, my dear."

There was a short pause in which Dumbledore thought about what he could tell her.

"Hermione, I have to be sure that what I tell you stays between us. I guess I can use your help."

"You have my word, professor."

"Well, then please come with me. This doesn't seem like the right place to talk about such things. Here the walls have too many ears for me."


	24. Chapter 24

Dumbledore led Hermione down to the dungeons. He stopped in front of a door, muttered a password she did not understand and entered.

Hermione stopped breathing. All walls were covered with bookshelves.

"Wow," Hermione kidnapped it. "Impressive, don't you think? But believe me, my dear, you don't want to know everything in these books," Dumbledore replied with a smile.

"None of these books has a solution to the problem I want to talk to you about. Sit down, will you?

He offered her a place on the couch and poured her a glass of water.

"You know where we are, Hermione?"

"No, professor. I don't know all the rooms in Hogwarts and who lives in the dungeons, I don't know either..."

She faltered and took a closer look. She discovered the desk, walked up to it and recognized the handwriting on the works.

"These are Professor Snape's rooms. But why...?"

"Indeed they are. You'd better sit down, it's a long story I have to tell you so you can do the right thing."

He told Hermione about his own people's attack on Severus, about the poison, the Halloween curse and the symptoms of the disease, about the attempts Poppy had made and their ultimate futility. But he didn't report on Tom for the time being.

"We tried everything humanly possible, Hermione. The potions don't work, probably because he was just weakened by the last robbery."

"The last one? But Professor Snape never missed class."

"That's the worst part. He came back in one night on Sunday and took all good advice into the wind not to teach on Mondays. That's two weeks ago now."

"I simply don't believe it. But well, we can't change that now. Did I understand correctly that Professor Snape has lost a lot of blood and is also suffering from pneumonia and for this reason the fever has risen again and breathing is very shallow and irregular and the pulse hardly noticeable. Furthermore, he has four fractured ribs, which could not be cured so far. Is that right so far?"

Dumbledore nodded and looked thoughtlessly into his water glass.

"How can I help you and him, professor?"

"I have the feeling that we missed something. Only what?

"You didn't miss anything, professor," Hermione replied. "This is all a natural reaction of the body to excessive demands. And if you don't choose another option as quickly as possible, it will become more and more difficult to help him!

"But what should we do?" Dumbledore was extremely desperate. Hermine had never experienced her headmaster so helpless and dissolved.

"May I... May I go to him? To make my own picture?"

"But of course Hermione. I'll take you to the next room.


	25. Chapter 25

Hermione hesitated for a moment as she entered the room.

It was one thing to be in the private rooms of a teacher, but another was to see her own teacher more dead than alive, especially the teacher most students were afraid of and looked up at with admiration.

The teacher who for years had survived Voldemort and the espionage work.

"Oh my God," Hermione kidnapped as she slowly stepped closer to the bed. Dumbledore had sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at his protégé.

"That's about the state he's been in for about a week and a half. For three days, since Halloween, it's been so bad.

Madame Pomfrey wants to give him three more days before she refuses to do anything to keep his life so painful. She thinks it's best for him if..."

"...you let him go." Finished Hermione the sentence for the headmaster. "What's your opinion, professor?"

"I can see somewhere that we are only torturing him unnecessarily, but I wouldn't be able to kill him. That's why I asked you to help us, Hermione.

There are certainly some other options than the magical means at our disposal."

Hermione stood next to the bed of her potion teacher and looked into the pale and feverish face.

"How high is the fever?"

"At the moment it's 43°C."

"This is much too high. What did you do about it?"

"Nothing. "NICHTS!? Which of the house elves would you unconditionally trust, professor?"

"Dobby!"

With a pop the house-elf appeared and was pleased when he saw Hermione.

"Hello, Hermione. Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, sir. How is Severus?"

"Not very well, Dobby. But Hermione needs your help to help him."

"Of course, Hermione. How can I help you?", the house-elf said.

"It would be nice if you could get me a sheet of parchment, pen and ink first, Dobby."

With another plop the house-elf disappeared, only to reappear a moment later.

Hermione took the desired things from him and wrote a short but urgent letter to her parents.

"Dobby, I need these things on the list. Can you bring them to me here and bring this letter to my parents afterwards?

"Sure you can."

After a minute or two, Dobby returned with a bowl of hot and cold water, one empty, and a stack of towels.

"I wrote a letter to my parents. I need some things from the Muggle world to help him. I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try.

Professor Snape can't stay down here. It's very draughty here and the mattress is clammy. Do you know a place where we can take him where we can ventilate properly?"

"We can take him to my bedroom. I realize that this is not the right place for him."

Dumbledore called another house elf, with whose help they apparated from the dungeons into the director's bedroom.

"Much better," Hermine said after they had put her professor in the big bed.

"Could you put two of the towels in the cold water and wring them out afterwards? They shouldn't drip anymore, otherwise they would wet everything.

Then wrap them around his calves. With the Muggles this is called a calf compress. It is especially helpful for mild fevers. It shouldn't be pointless for him either, but I need additional antibiotics to reduce the inflammation and a fever remedy."

"How are you going to give him all that, Hermione? Please don't force me to wake him up with another enervate."

Before Hermione could get an answer, Dobby appeared. He entered, compared to his height, a huge package.

"Hermione, Professor Dumbledore, sir. This is what I'm supposed to give you from your parents. They also added a letter."

"Thank you Dobby."

Hermione took the parcel and the letter from the house elf and opened the latter first.

Hermione,

We have just received a visit from a very strange creature, who introduced himself with Dobby, the house elf.

He handed us your letter in which you asked us for some medication and needles.

We ask you not to take the whole matter too much to heart, it is very likely that the professor will not survive the whole thing.

We have a lot of patients here in the hospital who don't survive pneumonia or blood poisoning in otherwise normal circumstances.

He has a chance of under one percent. He is so weakened by the enormous blood loss and curses that it is a miracle that he has survived the last 10 days.

All the best

Mum and Dad

Hermione gave the letter to Dumbledore, who became a bit paler.

She unpacked the parcel and sorted its contents on the enlarged bedside table. Dumbledore, who had put the letter on page, watched her with interest.

"I asked my parents to send me infusions. This is how we regulate the water balance, since Professor Snape is not able to drink at the moment and even if he has woken up, we should keep this for a few more days, because the lost amount cannot be absorbed all at once in the natural way.

Furthermore you can easily give painkillers and antibiotics. I have asked my parents to send me these in liquid form because they work faster and are better tolerated.

The only problem will be the withdrawal afterwards, but he should be able to cope with it already."

She smiled. Dumbledore was fascinated to see how she handled things without any problems. She worked with great concentration and speed, but without the hustle and bustle that Poppy radiated.

She pushed Severus' sweater a little high to get better to the back of his hand, where she skilfully inserted the needle that led over a tube to the infusion.

"The needle has two entrances. One is used to administer the NaCl solution from the infusion bags, which we will renew every three hours to make sure it doesn't lose any more fluid.

Later we will also give the medication here, but we will give it through the second access on his hand for the time being, because it must be dosed higher and must work faster.

If necessary, we can also do this later. However, we must wait and see.

I have now connected an infusion, which must be checked regularly and given him a antipyretic and antibiotics. He does not need painkillers now because he does not feel the pain caused by unconsciousness.

I leave a sedative injection and a sleeping pill injection here for safety."

Dumbledore finally understood why all the teachers were enthusiastic about this student. She managed to calm people down with her expertise and her way of giving them a feeling of security.

Dumbledore was sure it had been right to tell Hermione his secret, even though Poppy and Minerva would not be thrilled.

"I must thank you, Hermione. What you did for Severus is simply stunning."

"But I haven't achieved anything yet. You look terribly tired, professor. How long haven't you slept?"

"It's been a while since I slept through the night."

"I will stay here this night, if you will allow me professor. Tomorrow is Saturday and there we have no lesson."

"Of course, Hermione. I think that's a good idea. I'll let Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey know that I've inaugurated you and you're staying the night. They should also get some sleep.

Next door you will find my library. You are welcome to pick out one or two books to read. I'll stop by later.

Now that my bed is full, I sleep in my living room. Another bed fits there. You can wake me up if something happens. I want to be informed about every change.

Thank you again, Hermione."

"I have to thank you, professor. Of course I will let you know. Good night."

When Dumbledore left the bedroom, some hope glittered in his eyes. Maybe Severus wasn't quite as lost as he thought he was a few hours ago.


	26. Chapter 26

"Whatever gave you that idea, Albus?" Poppy and Minerva sounded at him. "How can you burden the girl additionally with such a task? She already has enough to do."

"I know, Poppy, but..." he was interrupted by another ranting Minervas.

"And what about him? You said three more days!

"I know that too, Minerva. Whether we try to save him with magical means that don't work anyway, or try another way. It is worth a try. And if it doesn't work, then so be it. But Hermione has her three. I'll be in my rooms if something should happen. Good night.

Dumbledore went back to his rooms and looked into his bedroom. Hermione sat on a comfortable armchair, her legs tightened and a thick book on her lap. Next to her was a steaming cup of cocoa.

He withdrew as quietly as he had come back and fell into a dreamless and quiet sleep for the first time in days.

"This is so irresponsible of him. The girl is in the middle of her preparations for her final exams."

"Nana, Poppy. It's still a good half a year to them."

"But still. What should we torture him unnecessarily? And Hermione as well. It may be that he wakes up again, with Merlin, that would be a miracle which I really wish for. But what if not? The girl will reproach herself endlessly! In my opinion that is not justifiable."

"It's true what you say, Poppy. But you know Albus. He never gives up. And that will be his undoing at some point."

Hermione turned one page of her book when her eyes fell on her professor. His face shone with sweat and he seemed trapped in a nightmare.

She stood up and went over to the big bed. She took a rag and dipped it in a bowl of cold water, wrung it out and sat down on the edge of the bed. While she held the right hand of Severus with her left hand so that he wouldn't injure himself with the infusion needle, she drove the right hand, holding the rag, over his face.

"It's all right, professor. It's just a dream," she tried to reassure him. "They are safe. No one will hurt you."

The longer she spoke, the calmer he became.

Hermione got up to wash out the rag again when she noticed that her professor was becoming more restless again.

That could only mean one thing and she had to look it up in her book.

She walked with long steps through the room and recorded the book she had read in to return directly to the bed.

She sat cross-legged at the end of the bed and noticed that Severus' breathing was calmer again.

The book was a medical textbook that her mother had sent her in the package. She opened a page in about the middle of the folio and saw her guess confirmed.

The door opened and Albus Dumbledore came in. Despite the early hour, he looked well rested and younger than he had been in the last few days.

"Good morning, Hermione. How are you," he inquired. "Thank you for asking. I am well. I spent the night reading.

Dumbledore smiled. He would have been surprised if she had spent her time in a different way.

"How is he doing? Poppy and Professor McGonagall weren't very excited that I let you in on this."

"I think he's a little better. The fever has gone down and the blood poisoning has disappeared completely. That's a start. I just noticed that if you leave him alone, he gets restless.

I looked it up once and according to this book it means he's about to wake up from unconsciousness.

Can I leave you alone for a moment? I'd like to take a shower and put on something clean."

"But of course, my dear. The second door on the right is my bathroom, let Dobby bring you everything you need."

"Thank you, professor.

With a smile she disappeared through the door and closed it silently.

Dumbledore turned to the book she left at the end of the bed.

"Intensive Medicine for Advanced Students"

Dumbledore had no idea what intensive care meant. He put the book away again and turned to Severus. And not a second too soon.

His eyelids twitched briefly before he opened them. He seemed slightly dazed and disoriented.

"Severus," a voice familiar to him sounded. He turned his head in the direction in which he suspected that voice.

He felt a warm hand closing around his left. If only the swindle would lie down.

"Close your eyes again, Severus. I am with you.

Albus was there to look after him. He closed his eyes obediently and felt how he felt less sick.

"Do you know where you are, Severus? Who I am?"

Maybe I should tell you how you got here. What can you remember?

Severus opened his eyes again and concentrated on the light blue of his mentor.

"I remember opening the gate down by the forest and Voldemort stood behind it... Also that Malfoy and Pettigrew surprised me..."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, Tom brought you here and he was here."

"So it wasn't a dream. What time is it, Albus?"

"We have four o'clock in the morning on November 5th. You were back almost 13 days ago."

"13 days?"

He tried to stand up, but was held back by the director. "Severus, stay down. With Merlin's beard. Let me tell you what happened."

Dumbledore told of the injuries he was taught by Malfoy and Pettigrew, of the blood poisoning, of the ineffectiveness of the potions and of Poppy, who wanted to give him only three days before she wanted to "redeem" him, as she called it.

He told how, after talking to Poppy, he walked through the castle and met Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who analysed the absence of their potion professor, and heard Hermione reprimand the two boys for talking about him.

He decided to let them in on his secret. He told her that she wrote to her parents asking for some medicine and books to save her teacher's life. She was confident that at least the Muggle medicines would help if the magic remedies didn't work. She studied highly complicated textbooks next to school, in his eyes, and now sat here for two days and nights hoping that he would wake up soon.

Now she was in the shower after Albus had replaced her.

As soon as Albus had finished his report, the bedroom door opened quietly and Hermione came in.

"Good morning, Professor Snape. I'm glad to see you're awake."

Severus tried to bring about a smile. He followed her with his gaze as she walked around the bed trying to redo the infusion.

"What is that," he asked her.

"This is a NaCl solution. Sodium chloride. It serves to stabilize your circulation and stop you from drying out. This allows the antibiotics and painkillers to work better and faster."

She smiled and took his hand to replace the tube.

"I'll give you some morphine at the same time, for the pain you undoubtedly need."

Dumbledore was frightened. He hadn't even thought about it and Hermione had explained everything to him.

"You should get some sleep now. Should I give you a sleeping pill?

"No, thank you."

Severus fell into a peaceful sleep.

"You did very well, Hermione. I think he's on the mend, don't you?"

"I hope so too. He won't be able to get up for a long time and weaning from the sedative will be very difficult, but that's the best way you could have taken.

Perhaps you should inform Madame Pomfrey, Tom and Professor McGonagall that he has woken up?

I'll stay here."

"I should indeed do that. Thank you, Hermione."


	27. Chapter 27

Dumbledore went through the castle and after almost endless time reached the hospital wing.

As expected, Poppy and Minerva sat in the nurse's small office and talked. When they noticed the headmaster, they interrupted their conversation. They conjured up another chair and one of the house elves brought another cup of tea.

"How is he? And Hermione?" they wanted to know.

"Hermione is actually doing quite well. She spent the night with a book called "Intensive Medicine for Advanced Students". Even the title gives me a headache. But she grew up with muggle-doctors.

How is Severus? Well, the fever has dropped and we have defeated blood poisoning. He was awake for about ten minutes."

"He was what? asked Poppy in disbelief.

"You heard right, Poppy. I talked to him for about ten minutes. Well, I told him about the events of the last few days and told him about his injuries."

"And how did he react to Hermione," Minerva asked.

"She was in the shower at the time. And when she came back, I had explained to him the circumstances of her presence.

He seemed somehow... I don't know how to explain or describe that.

I..."

He broke off and stared thoughtlessly into his cup.

"Albus, what happened?"

"Oh, I don't know exactly either. I was so obsessed with telling him everything that I completely forgot his needs.

Hermione came into the room, saw that he was awake and greeted him friendly as it was her way. The next thing she does is check his infusion and give him a painkiller. He seemed so grateful.

I just can't understand why I didn't think of it. I mean, she explained everything to me before and I just forget."

"Albus, of course you could have thought of it, but I don't know if I would have done it either," Poppy reassured him. "I would have been so happy if he'd woken up. I don't suppose he said that he was in pain, did he, Albus?

"No. Of course not. That's just how he is. I think that I should now slowly go up again. Do you want to come with me, Poppy and have a look at him?

Together the great magician and the little witch made their way to the tower where the headmaster's rooms were located.

"It's a miracle. It's really a miracle that he survived all this."

After a thorough investigation, which Severus hadn't noticed, Minerva, Albus, Poppy and Hermione had found each other in the living room.

"I must take my hat off to you, Miss Granger. You managed to save a teacher from death. That will be appreciated in due course. I am impressed."

The hymns of praise that rained on her from her home teacher and the media witch made the student embarrassed.

"Do you have any plans after graduating from this school?" Poppy asked.

"I'm not quite sure yet, but I'm thinking about doing something in the medical field."

"I would be happy if I could welcome her as a trainee. You can think everything over again in peace. I'll take a look at what my other patients are doing."

"I think that I should inform Tom about the process. Hermione, you are welcome to stay here or go down to the Gryffindor Tower."

"I think that I should slowly return. Ron and Harry will probably get suspicious if I stay away too long.

I'll explain again what they must do, and maybe Madame Pomfrey should take a look at it. If anything is wrong, you know where I am."

Hermione gave everyone a little introduction to Muggle medicine and put a pile of parchment in everyone's hand, on which she summarized the points in writing.

Dumbledore sat down with parchment and feather on the armchair in which Hermione had spent the nights. And began to write a letter.

Dear Tom,

as promised, I will report to you regularly on what's going on here at the castle.

As I reported in my last letter, we were able to stabilize Severus's condition and none of the wounds have broken open again to this day.

Following this action I had a serious conversation with Poppy. She believed we should no longer torment Severus and set the potions down, as they would have no effect anyway.

She would give him another three days and then refuse to do anything to prolong his life.

I realized that she was right in a way, but I wouldn't have the heart to kill Severus.

So I was looking for a way to save his life. I had a conversation with three students who were talking about Severus. One of them, Hermione Granger, I asked to see Severus and she was shocked. She reproached me for how we had treated him, the room in which he was lying was not exactly conducive to his health, apart from the incompetence with which we had acted. After listening to the story and knowing about the injuries, she had Severus brought into my bedroom and wrote to her parents.

Her parents were dentists, but they retrained and now work in a London hospital as intensive care physicians.

They gave her some medication for pain, blood poisoning and pneumonia, as well as sleeping pills and infusions (a kind of fluid that is given directly into the bloodstream via needles).

Hermione spent two days and two nights waking at his bed doing all sorts of things...

She managed to lower the fever and beat blood poisoning.

And this morning Severus woke up. He listened to me for ten minutes as I explained the circumstances and his injuries. Hermione came in after taking a shower and the first thing she does is renew his infusion and give him a painkiller. Everything I should have done first.

She, a Muggle in your eyes, managed to save Severus Snape's life.

I'll get back to you in the next few days.

Yours sincerely

Albus Dumbledore

It was late in the evening when Tom came to read the letter he had received that afternoon.

It pleased him that Severus was on the road to recovery. At last the long time of waiting and anxiety, hopelessness and helplessness was over. Finally he was able to face everyday life more calmly again. But was there still an everyday life, and what did it look like?

He wrote a short letter to Avery telling him that Severus would recover and had awoken from unconsciousness.

He opened a bottle of elf wine. For a long time he looked thoughtfully into the crackling fireplace. What would happen next?

He owed it to a Muggle that Severus Snape, his best man among the Death Eaters, and his friend were on the mend. A mudblood he had hated because they were simply not worthy to exist alongside purebloods in the world of witches and sorcerers.

A Mudblood who was the best friend of his greatest enemy Harry Potter.

One thing was for sure. He would no longer be able to justify killing these people. Only what should he do?

Glass by glass the bottle emptied and when the morning dawned, his decision was made. A decision that some would not endorse, but most would accept with thanks.

He owed it to himself and especially to Severus to stop this whole theatre.

He couldn't really understand that such an action had to be necessary to recognize all his mistakes. He could not understand that all these years he had fallen for the assumption that they were worth nothing. And it was only 20 years later that he realized that they were the ones from whom he and the others still had much to learn.

He wrote three letters.


	28. Chapter28

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I want to thank you for everything you've done for me and for Severus.

I have taken a decision, the outcome of which you will be informed of tomorrow in detail in the daily prophet.

I would ask you to pass on the enclosed letter to Severus.

Respectfully

Tom Vorlost Riddle

Dear Severus,

I'm very sorry we couldn't talk anymore.

I punished the people who did to you what you had to go through. I felt it was my duty to punish them appropriately in order to give them and others a premonition of what it is like to stand up against someone from my own ranks.

Once again I want to thank you for your loyalty.

Let Dumbledore tell you what happened the day after the arrival of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Lord Voldemort alias Tom Vorlost Riddle

Dear Minister Fudge,

it may be that you don't take this letter seriously.

But when you receive this letter, I will no longer be among the living.

In my villa in Little Hangelton, you and your aurors will meet all the Death Eaters waiting for an order from me.

Ask Albus Dumbledore for a spell that will deprive them of their magic power so that you can overcome them without any problems.

You will find my body on the second floor of the second room together with Nagini, who will also be dead.

Take your chance at 6 pm.

Lord Voldemort


	29. Chapter29

When Dumbledore read the letter, he had to swallow first. He sat in the armchair next to Severus' bed and held both letters in his hand.

He looked over at Severus. He was still asleep, which was reassuring of course. On the one hand because he could draw enough strength and recover from his severe injuries, on the other hand Severus would know directly if he saw his director that something must have happened.

No one knew him as well as the potion teacher Hogwarts.

Dumbledore decided to wait a few more days before handing over the letter, so that Severus would have enough time to calm down.

He had both letters disappear into the inside pocket of his wide cloak and had Dobby take them to the prophet of the day.

He opened the first page and saw his suspicion confirmed.

Little Hangelton, 6 November

Victory of the White Side

The Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, under the direction of the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, have achieved an incredible victory.

"I received an anonymous letter announcing a Death Eater Meeting," said Fudge. "The Death Eaters were waiting for a new order from their master, the letter continued, and in fact all were present when we stormed the building in Little Hangelton shortly after 18.

Almost 40 Death Eaters were killed and 20 arrested in the attack. There were three slightly injured on our side.

"We found the dead body of Nagini and Lord Voldemort on the first floor," Fudge continued. "We were already very suspicious when we reached Riddle Manor and saw the Dark Mark over the building.

The causes of death for Nagini and Lord Voldemort are the same: Avada Kedavra, the death curse.

But the reasons remain unknown.

Let us enjoy and celebrate the new peace that has begun.

Rita Skeeter

Dumbledore put the newspaper on the bed and looked thoughtfully out of the window. Tom hadn't written much in his letter.

But after a very superficial report in the daily prophet, he could rhyme the circumstances and procedures together.

Tom had informed his Death Eaters about an evening meeting which would be their last. He had killed himself and Nagini after he had written a letter to Fudge and informed him about this meeting.

Fudge undoubtedly knew about Tom's death before, otherwise he would never have sent his aurors into the lion's den.

And then there was the saying Fudge had asked Dumbledore for. It all made sense. But he found no answer to the question: Why?

Why did Tom and Nagini kill themselves and deliver his faithful followers to the Ministry of Magic? Why all but Severus? Did he know about his espionage work? Probably not.

But what brought the most powerful black magician to shoot everything he had built up and his targets into the wind?

Dumbledore's gaze wandered from the window through the room and finally got stuck on the sleeping Severus. And all of a sudden the action seemed logical to him.

Tom had tried to save Severus' life, but had to realize that this was not possible in his current state. Poppy had also tried everything possible and had reached her limits with the magic supply, and had even gone so far that she wanted to stop the treatment in order not to torture him any further.

And then came a Muggle-born student, a mud blood in his eyes and Harry Potter's best friend, who managed to stabilize and even save his life with the medicine of the Muggle Severus Constitution.

He could not pursue his goals at all, because he had to realize through this incident that it was the magicians and not the Muggles or Muggle-born who were often incapable of doing anything.

As soon as he had thought this thought through, Severus opened his eyes and looked around the room. He found the issue of the Day Prophet and the picture of the Dark Mark about Riddle Manor.

"What...".

He was interrupted by Dumbledore who had placed you beside him on the bed. "Not now, Severus, it has time until later."


	30. Chapter30

A few days passed until Dumbledore brought it over his heart to tell Severus of the death of Voldemort and handed over the letter. But there was no other opportunity.

Every time Severus was awake, either Poppy or Minerva were there, but Albus didn't want to say anything to them. He slept through the rest of the day.

When Severus had read the letter and the prophet of the day and listened to Dumbledore's explanations, it took him a while to process everything and understand that he was now free.

Malfoy and Pettigrew were no longer alive. Who would have thought that even Voldemort had a sense of justice?

You could clearly see that Severus was getting better every day. He asked for books because he got bored but couldn't get out of bed.

Dumbledore had hired Horace Slughorn to teach potions until the Christmas holidays, as he forbade Severus to risk his life unnecessarily to teach a few children.

On Christmas Eve, Dumbledore allowed Severus to stand up and sit together in the living room.

Christmas morning brought a surprise for two castle dwellers. When Hermione woke up on the morning of 25 December, she found two packets at the end of her bed. One was from Dumbledore, who told her that she had received a special award for service to the school.

Another was from Professor Snape, who thanked her with a very rare magic tank book about remedies.

Severus Snape, on the other hand, found the edition "Intensive Medicine for Advanced Students" among his gifts, which also contained a pair of socks by Albus.

After the Christmas holidays Severus took over his hours of potions again. Since the students believed that he had been travelling for the Order, they asked no questions and feared this lesson as they had always feared.

Only Hermione smiled while preparing the potions and knew that she had done the right thing.

She had never literally thanked her teacher for the book, but she could feel his gratitude for his behaviour, which had become somewhat milder towards her.

Severus interpreted her contented nature in such a way that she had understood his gratitude by the slightly changed behaviour, which he was not allowed to change completely, otherwise unpleasant questions would have arisen.

Hermine completed the school year with top marks and then began training as a healer with Madame Pomfrey, while at the same time studying medicine at a Muggle University and potions at a Magician University.


End file.
